July Book Review
I heard from a lot of you after last month's book review post! The most frequent comment I heard was something along the lines of "you're going to keep doing this every month, right?!" People are always on the lookout for good book recommendations. I think this is because there are SO MANY books being published each month, and it's impossible to know where to invest our precious reading time.
Or perhaps you're in a book club, and it's your turn to pick the next selection. The pressure! I feel this pressure with TV; Mike and I will sit down to watch something, and we end up spending 30 minutes surfing through all the options. I cannot make a decision because I'm overwhelmed by all the choices. There is just so much good TV out there right now! What a time to be alive. Then when we finally make a decision, I'm asleep 10 minutes in. Mike just LOVES that.
Back to books. Here's what I read in July of 2018. I read 15 books: 12 paper books, 3 audio books. Yes, that's a lot. If you're wondering how I manage to read so much, I attempt to answer that question here. Okay, without further ado, blah blah blah, here are my reviews:
Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: Loved this one. Highlighted and tagged the heck out of it. I didn’t share the author's evangelical childhood that taught her a strict biblical world view, but she and I share a similar faith journey all the same: we both left the Christian denominations of our childhoods for a long season of questioning and doubt, eventually ending up in the open and affirming Episcopal Church.
I've followed her writing for a long time, and I've always identified with her honest depiction of her struggles with faith and doubt. She covers a lot of ground here, and she does so beautifully. I think this passage sums up the book well:
"The truth is, you can bend Scripture to say just about anything you want it to say...We're all selective. We all wrestle with how to interpret and apply the Bible to our lives...So the question we have to ask ourselves is this: are we reading with the prejudice of love, with Christ as our model, or are we reading with the prejudices of judgment and power, self-interest and greed? Are we seeking to enslave or liberate, burden or set free?
If you are looking for Bible verses with which to support slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to abolish slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to oppress women, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to honor and celebrate women, you will find them. If you are looking for reasons to wage war, there are plenty. If you are looking for reasons to promote peace, there are plenty more. If you are looking for an outdated and irrelevant ancient text, that's exactly what you will see. If you are looking for truth, that's exactly what you will find.
With Scripture, we've been entrusted with some of the most powerful stories ever told. How we harness that power, whether for good or evil, oppression or liberation, changes everything."
The structure of the book is so well done; I especially liked the section on the Bible's resistance stories. So much of the Bible was written by oppressed minorities; Jesus's entire ministry was about resisting the Empire and the religious leaders of the day while reaching out to those on the margins of society. This reality is hard to reconcile with the right-wing American Christianity today.
She writes: "And I think that's because Americans, particularly white Americans, have a hard time catching apocalyptic visions when they benefit too much from the status quo to want to peek behind the curtain. When you belong to a privileged class of the most powerful global military superpower in the world, it can be hard to relate to the oppressed minorities who wrote so much of the Bible (and no, their oppression did not consist of getting wished "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" at Target. That's not actual persecution, folks.) The fact is, the shadow under which most of the world trembles today belongs to America, and its beasts could be named any number of things-White Supremacy, Colonialism, the Prison Industrial Complex, the War Machine, Civil Religion, Materialism, Greed...America's no ancient Babylon or Rome, I know that. But America's no kingdom of God, either."
Even if you are someone who considers yourself happily secular and unchurched, I think you would still gain something from reading this book. It's beautifully written, thoughtfully executed, and full of true wisdom.
A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: I have thoughts on this book. So many thoughts. Buckle up.
First off, I should start by saying that I read this after hearing nothing but rave reviews. My fellow readers have been swooning over this one for more than a year now, so of course I was bound to be slightly disappointed, right? But I didn't expect to dislike it so much for the first 200+ pages, only to end up truly liking it by the end.
So, the first half. I liked the main character Count Rostov right away, but I was really annoyed at Amor Towles. Everyone kept telling me how charming and clever this book was, but it felt too clever by half. The author seemed to be really impressed with himself, and it was downright annoying. (It reminded me of every Aaron Sorkin show I've ever seen: even when I agree with the politics of the point he's making, he just tries so hard, and is just so darn clever that I end up super annoyed and turning it off.) My heart was sinking: I thought I'd love this book! I lived in Russia for two years! I majored in Russian Language and Literature, for heaven's sake! I have been in the Hotel Metropol, many times! This book should be a home run for me! But I soldiered on, because I had no choice: this was a book club book and I was leading the discussion. Then, roughly halfway through, a young character appears in the Count's life, and suddenly, he becomes a human being making human connections. Suddenly, the book is now about relationships and not just clever stories and charming anecdotes. This gave the book meaning and depth, allowing me to enjoy the charm and melt into the story. By the end, I may have even swooned. Just a little bit. Whatever. There was still a lingering feeling of bother, for lack of a better word, but I ignored it and let myself enjoy the story as it unfolded. At our book club discussion, however, a woman was able to articulate what was bothering me about the book overall. This particular book club is for senior citizens at our local library; I am the group's discussion leader. We had a large group show up that day, and the initial reaction was lots of swooning (*eyeroll*). After everyone took turns gushing about why they loved it so much, I asked a woman who was new to the group what her thoughts were. With a heavy Russian accent, she told us that she came to the US in 1990, having finally escaped the Soviet Union. She had been looking forward to reading this book, but instead it made her angry. I won't give any spoilers, but there were SO many historical inaccuracies! The most glaring one is the entire premise of the book: no aristocrat would've been put under house arrest in a luxury hotel for 30 years at the expense of the State. He would've been shipped to Siberia or shot. The end. And it really bothered her that he enjoyed a fairly lavish lifestyle, relatively speaking, while throughout her country there were famines and the Purges and a world war that killed millions of people. That put an abrupt end to the swooning, let me tell you. I did a bit of research before the book club meeting, because this bothered me, too. I knew there was no way this aristocrat would be allowed to survive, especially in the comfort of the Metropol, for those 30 years. No. Way. Turns out, the author was not compelled to write this book because of his deep interest in Russian history. He did no research on those 30 years, as far as I could tell. He has said in multiple interviews that the seed of the novel was planted when he made his 8th business trip in a row to a luxury hotel in Geneva. He noticed some of the same people there every time, and he began to wonder: What would it be like to live in a hotel, even one as nice as this? He said this gave him the idea for the book, realizing that in order for it to be a compelling story, the character would need to be forced to live there. Naturally he thought of Soviet Russia. So. If you are looking for historical fiction that takes place in Soviet Russia from 1922-1954, this book will probably annoy or even anger you with its inaccuracies and near total disregard for the epic suffering that took place during those years. But if you are looking for a charming read, with clever turns of phrase and a truly endearing main character, then you will really enjoy this book. It may even make you swoon.
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: Every white person needs to read this book. It will probably bring up lots of feelings: feelings of guilt and shame, and maybe even some defensiveness, but the author does not shy away from this hard truth: we need to stop making conversations about race be about White People's Feelings. Before you pick up this book, be prepared to check your White Fragility, repeatedly. This is not about you and your feelings.
So many parts of this book deeply affected me. There are the obvious ones, the ones about what it is like to fear for her baby son, dreading the day that he gets called the n-word for the first time, the day that the world stops seeing him as a cute young boy and starts seeing him as a dangerous young man. The indignities large and small as she navigates her workplace. The Black Lives Matter movement and the mass incarceration of black men and how we see and treat black bodies in our country. But I was also profoundly affected by her chapters on Nice White People and White Fragility. Some passages that stood out to me:
"This is what makes the fragility of whiteness so damn dangerous. It ignores the personhood of people of color and instead makes the feelings of whiteness the most important thing. It happens in classes and workshops, board meetings and staff meetings, via email and social media, but it takes other forms, too. If Black people are dying in the street, we must consult with white feelings before naming the evils of police brutality. If white family members are being racist, we must take Grandpa's feelings into account before we proclaim our objections to such speech. If an organization's policies are discriminatory and harmful, that can only be corrected if we can ensure white people won't feel bad about the change. White fragility protects whiteness and forces Black people to fend for themselves."
"...most white people still believe that they are good and the true racists are easy to spot. The true racists wouldn't have hired me...wouldn't have noticed the homogenous environment. My colleagues were much too nice to be racists. I don't know where this belief comes from, but I do know it has consequences. When you believe niceness disproves the presence of racism, it's easy to start believing bigotry is rare, and that the label "racist" should be applied only to mean-spirited, intentional acts of discrimination. The problem with this framework-besides being a gross misunderstanding of how racism operates in systems and structures enabled by nice people-is that it obligates me to be nice in return, rather than truthful. I am expected to come closer to the racists. Be nicer to them. Coddle them. Even more, if most white people are good, innocent, lovely folks who are just angry or scared or ignorant, it naturally follows that whenever racial tension arises, I must be the problem. I am not kind enough, patient enough, warm enough. I don't have enough understanding for the white heart, white feelings, white needs...If my feelings do not fit the narrative of white innocence and goodness, the burden of change gets placed on me."
Every white person needs to read this book.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: At first glance, this merely seems like a strange, quirky little book. And trust me, it is strange and quirky, no question. But underneath the deceptively smooth veneer and sharp brevity is a darkly comic look at rather existential questions: What defines "normal"? How far will society let you stray outside the boundaries of normal before its deep discomfort intrudes on your existence? Have we really evolved beyond the basic gender roles that have been with us from the genesis of humanity? Why do we impose the same life narrative on all people (college, upwardly mobile white collar job, marriage, children)? Why do we question and distrust people who quietly decide this narrative isn't for them?
While reading this book, I had a low-level feeling of discomfort humming in the background. I wrote it off as a side effect of reading a book in translation about a foreign culture. But when I finished the book and closed the cover, I had to admit that at least some of my discomfort was with the character of Keiko herself. She's not "normal." She's weird. I was rooting for her, wanting her to forge her own path and make her own choices. And yet, I had to admit, if I were one of the characters in her life (her sister, her co-workers), I'd probably respond to her just like they did.
This book made me think, which is what all good books do. I recommend grabbing yourself a copy of this one. At 163 pages, you can finish it in a day, but it will stay with you for much longer.
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes by Adam Rutherford 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this one! I do not have a very scientifically-minded brain; the topics in books like these fascinate me, but I need them to be written for people like me in mind (i.e. highly readable with consideration for nearly zero assumed knowledge in the field). This book fits the bill. There were a few paragraphs here and there that would cause my eyes to glaze over and I'd think, "Wait, what?!", but overall I was happily engaged from beginning to end. You can tell from the title that this is an ambitious book. I think most of us see the world through the lens of the times we live in; maybe we can pan back and think about when our grandparents were alive, or perhaps even think back as far as a few generations before that. It is staggering to think about time and humanity and our individual lives in the collective human story in the context of millions of years. It is fascinating to read about when humans first started roaming the earth, how we spread across the planet, how our genes adapted to our environment, and how we can see that story in our genome today. I especially loved his chapters on race. He doesn't approach it with a liberal, "we're all part of the human race" vibe. Instead he just gives us the science: turns out, there is no such thing as race. "I am unaware of any group of people on Earth that can be defined by their DNA in a scientifically satisfactory way. There are plenty of genetic differences and physical differences that emerge from those genes between people and peoples, but none that align with the way we talk about 'race.'...It is frequently stated that, for the average geneticist, race simply does not exist...We know that the emergence of the pale skin we associate with Europe, and particularly northern Europe, only emerged in the last few thousand years, just as the genes for processing milk did...In terms of genetics, we're looking at a handful of genes amount thousands, and minuscule factors of variation across millions in the whole genome. There is no single gene that underpins the concept of race just like there are so few ones for any one complex human characteristic, and there are just a few that convey the broad physical differences that render populations very visible different from each other. Even when there are, these represent a superficial and tiny fraction of the total amount of genetic difference between people...Of course "black" is virtually meaningless for the purposes of this argument. The genes that confer skin pigmentation are few, but mask a level of deeper genetic variation within Africa than without. That a Namibian and a Nigerian have more similar skin color than either do to a Swede masks the fact that the majority of their genes are more dissimilar to each other than they are to that same Swede." I also really liked the sections explaining genetics vs. the environment, and how they both interact in our individual lives, and collectively how they interact to affect our genome through evolution. Nature vs. Nurture: "All humans speak a language (for simplicity's sake), which indicates that the capacity for language is genetically determined; which language you speak is entirely determined by where you were born, so it is environmental...Think of DNA as an orchestral score, the note on the page unchanging. If you buy the sheet music to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, it is the same notes whether it was published in 1816, 1916, or 2016. How it sounds when played by a full orchestra is another matter though...Each performance is unique, even when the original scores are identical. In DNA, the notes never change, but they get annotated in all sorts of ways...The DNA sequence itself does not change-nature-but the modification of DNA does and is reversible according to the actions of the organism-nurture." I told you. Fascinating.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: A friend recommended this one to me, and she even dropped off her copy for me to read. Naturally I went into it with high expectations, and I'm happy to report I was not disappointed! It reminded me of my original mystery love, Agatha Christie: good characters, a solid British setting with surprise plot twists right up to the end. No gratuitous gore or predictable hooking up between characters; just a good old fashioned page-turner that kept me invested in the story until the very last page. Winner!
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson 2 stars ⭐️⭐️ *One More Page Daytime Fiction Discussion Group July 2018 Selection
My Review: This book is just like the Infinite Family Project created in the story: Both are ambitious and large in scope. Both have such potential and sound so interesting, but ultimately, both failed in their mission. This book could've been so good. If you believe that it takes a village to raise a child, that community makes families stronger and the more adults available to love and guide a child as they grow up, the better, then the ideas in this book are worth exploring. What if a group of adults set themselves apart in an intentional community, bankrolled by a billionaire, allowing the parents to care for the children while also fully taking care of their own needs? Sounds great, right? You'd want to read a novel about how that plays out, including exploring all the messy ways the adults' relationships and impulses could mess that up? The main problem here is that the novel is all brevity and no depth. There are so many characters that they start to become interchangeable. You can't keep track, and you don't really care because they are so lightly drawn that you have zero investment in them. The two main characters that are explored in more depth are still so impenetrable that when a certain course of action happens at the end (no spoilers here), I was completely unconvinced. It was like a reporter telling me what happened; I felt nothing from the characters to make me believe it to be true. This was a big fat disappointment. We read this for the Daytime Fiction Discussion Group at One More Page Books, and of course whenever I realize a book selection is not good, I assume there will be at least two people in the group who liked it. Not so this time. We all agreed that while the premise was interesting and had potential for a great novel, it completely fell flat. Boo.
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: All the stars for this one. I cannot remember the last time I was so profoundly moved by a book. I cried several times, and I don't mean just tearing up a little; I'm talking fat tears rolling down my face while clutching the book to my chest, especially toward the end. Sigh. This book is the real deal. You can read the publisher's synopsis to get the basic plot summary of the book. But ultimately, this book is a tender portrait of a specific family that is universal in scope. If you are a daughter or a son or a brother or a sister or a mother or a father, you will see yourself and your life's relationships reflected in these pages. The love and tension between siblings. The desire of parents to love their children as best they can, with every intention of doing right by them, wildly exceeding all expectations with one child only to fail miserably with another. The tender ordinary moments that make up a family's life, moments of love and connection that sustain you through the hard times. The feelings of regret that haunt us all. I cannot do this book justice. You just need to read it for yourself. I cannot believe this author is so young! I don't know how she could write so poignantly from the point of view of older parents, the feelings of love and regret and pride and tenderness ring so true. We readers are so lucky that this is her debut; hopefully we have many more beautiful novels to look forward to from this author.
Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country by Steve Almond 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: Every American should read this book. The author takes on the daunting task of answering the question in his subtitle: What the hell just happened to our country? Each chapter takes on a "bad story" or myth, addresses our collective misconceptions or conventional wisdom, and tries to get at the truth. He distills down much of our political discord and corruption into something we can all understand, using both historical and psychological analysis. I'm telling you, it's good. And he does not hold back. He is upfront about being a progressive who voted for Bernie Sanders, but he is unflinching in spreading the blame for where America is now: the Reagan Administration for eliminating the Fairness Doctrine, giving birth to the toxic media environment we now find ourselves in. The media for telling itself it's merely reporting on the circus, when in fact they are the ones creating it. Yes, that includes the so-called "liberal" media. Us, the American People, for being cynical and jaded and not turning up to vote when it matters. James Comey and President Obama, for being so sure that Trump could never win, they decided to withhold from the voters the very relevant information that Trump and his campaign were under an FBI investigation for colluding with Russia. Meanwhile, voters could not pick up a copy of The New York Times without reading a story about Hillary's emails. He even takes a hard look at the Progressives' (and my beloved) sacred cow, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (He didn't comment on the current iteration, hosted by my also-beloved Trevor Noah.) To go a bit further on his critique of the media and its coverage of the 2016 election: he cites a post-election study, conducted by Harvard's Shorenstein Center, which revealed that just ten percent of the 2016 election coverage focused on policy. TEN PERCENT. He quotes CBS Chairman Les Moonves, who said, "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS." Moonves went on to characterize the campaign as a "circus" but insisted "Donald's place in this election is a good thing. Man, who would have expected the ride we're all having right now?...The money's rolling in and this is fun. I've never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going." This should outrage us all. It should also give us a moment of self-reflection. What were we more likely to tune in to, to click on and repost? News reports that highlighted how crazy those GOP primaries were, and then the hours of "analysis" that discussed the crazy while ignoring any discussion of policy? Articles that stoked our sense of how right we are (and how wrong the other side is)? Memes that mocked how idiotic Trump and his supporters looked? Our country has some serious soul-searching to do. One of my favorite quotes from the book is when Almond quotes American journalist and culture critic H.L. Mencken, who died in 1956: "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." I believe that great and glorious day has come to pass.
The Anomaly by Michael Rutger 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ *Audible
My Review: It was kind of crazy, but kind of fun, and I was compelled to keep listening. The narrator did a good job, which of course is crucial in an audio book. This book is fast-paced and has decent character development for this genre, and the premise is unique: think Indiana Jones with a YouTube channel, looking for a lost archeological site. But underneath all of that, it's still your basic plot-driven narrative. I tend to be hard on those in reviews, so I'm not sure why I keep reading them! If you love a good page-turner, you'll probably love this one because it's not riddled with the usual cliche characters. The story gets flat-out weird in places, requiring serious willing suspension of disbelief, but if you're up for the ride, grab yourself a copy.
Eternal Life by Dara Horn 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: What a beautifully original novel! If you like your historical fiction to also be philosophical explorations on the meaning of life, then this is the book for you. And by "historical fiction" I mean first century CE. In the acknowledgements, the author says the historical portions of the book are drawn from Talmudic sources on the first-century sage Yochanan ben Zakkai (a character in this novel), on the Jewish revolt at against Rome, and on the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. So it goes waaay back in time, and includes some Jewish mysticism. I've never read anything like it. The main character Rachel finds herself in ancient times with a dying child, and she does what any parent does in that situation: she bargains with God. She promises to give her life in order to save her son. And she does sacrifice her life, but instead of dying, the bargain with God keeps her from dying, forever. She is forced to live hundreds of lives, loving and losing husbands and children, over and over again. We meet her in the present day as an 84-year-old grandmother in New York. She watches her children and grandchildren obsessing over their own mortality, and she desperately wishes she could die. Not in the ways we usually see in an elderly grandmother, because she is old and in pain and is ready to say goodbye after a life well lived. But because she knows all too well what it really means to live forever, and she just can't take it anymore. No one wants to die. No one wants to grow old, only to watch their loved ones die. We want to delay losing our loved ones for as long as we can. Of course we do. And yet. Reading this book makes you realize there is a natural order to things: the younger generations will and should continue to be born. The older generations will and should eventually leave to make room for them. Reading this book also puts your tiny short lifespan in perspective; even if you live to be 100, you are here for a blink of an eye, for a mere snapshot of human history. And I loved Rachel's perspective as a parent, and her impatience with her children; yes, all older generations look at how kids are doing things these days and shake their heads, but I loved how the author could play with the span of time and really give perspective. There really is nothing new under the sun, just new people doing it. I wanted this book to be longer, to explore the characters more deeply. I'm grateful to have found this author, and I plan to read her other books.
Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer by Barbara Ehrenreich 2.5 stars ⭐️⭐️💫
My Review: I was disappointed in this one. I really loved her book Nickel and Dimed; it was one of the first books I read on income inequality, and it was so well done. I've seen her interviewed many times, promoting both her last book and this latest one, and I always find her to be delightfully cranky. She is smart and does not demure or apologize, neither for her intelligence nor her strong opinions; I knew I wanted to read her latest work. Which is why I expected to like this book more. I am the demographic she is describing in this book: upper middle class white person who likes to think that they have some control over death and dying by what they eat and how much they exercise. Of course I know I'll die someday, but I also recognize that I'm prone to magical thinking (if I eat this and not that, if I do these workouts, I will avoid the scary fates of cancer or dementia.) I know I'm increasing my odds for a healthier life, but I also know, when I'm being real with myself, that this guarantees nothing. I liked the chapters on how we like to think we can control our minds and bodies, and how appealing this is when we feel like we've lost control over nearly everything else (our society, government, etc.) She points out that for women, control over one's body is even more loaded: with the punishing culture of female dieting and thinness, women are supposed to control their bodies to the point of shrinking their bodies as much as possible. Seen in this context, it is kind of ridiculous to think if we run enough miles and drink enough kale smoothies, we can somehow cheat death and stay forever young. I also liked her exploration of how exercise has become another form of conspicuous consumption: affluent people do it because they have the time and money to do so. The working class do not have the money to belong to expensive gyms or to purchase costly superfoods, nor the time to put into these endeavors. Looking fit and lean has become a status symbol, one that has a measurable impact on a person's professional (and therefore financial) success. All very interesting points to consider. The book lost me, however, when she went off on rants. Now, listen. I enjoy a good self-righteous rant as much as the next person. But these seemed like the angry ramblings of someone caught on a bad day, not the well-researched points that I've come to expect from this author. The chapters did not go together at all: some were harsh looks at our society and how we view health, aging and dying, others were rants against the medical establishment, while others included scientific facts that seemed wedged in to prove that she did some research, I guess? I don't know. I wasn't very cohesive or coherent. She would throw in things like "ADHD and autism are caused by iPad addiction" which is irresponsible and just plain wrong. And speaking of irresponsible...she insists that people should stop all cancer screenings. According to the author, it's all a scam by the medical establishment to find something wrong so doctors can do unnecessary procedures, all in order to make money. This is where she totally lost me. I understand that there has been some question as to whether routine annual mammograms starting at age 40 is the right advice for every woman, for example; some doctors say the risk of radiation exposure and false positives among women without a family history is unnecessary. These doctors recommend waiting until age 50. But here's the thing: while this recommendation may make sense in the aggregate, all of us know at least one woman whose life was saved because of early detection under the age of 40. It seems irresponsible at best for Ehrenreich to recommend forgoing all health screenings: mammograms, Pap smears, colonoscopies, prostate screenings, etc. She herself is a breast cancer survivor, her life saved because of a mammogram. This part of the book truly seemed like the rantings of a bitter person without the full mastery of her faculties. If you ask me, you can skip this one. But don't skip that mammogram.
I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon 3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 *Audible
My Review: I enjoyed this one; 3.5 stars. I listened to this one on Audible, and the narration was excellent. I remember being fascinated by this story as a kid, along with the rest of the world ("could that woman really be the lost daughter of Tsar Nicholas of Russia?!") Like most people, I really wanted it to be true. (Pro tip: if you don't know the answer already, don't google anything before reading this book). The narration jumps around in time: when the story is told from the point of view of Anastasia, it is linear, from the Tsar's family's kidnapping, transport, and ultimate assassination. When the story is told from the point of view of Anna Anderson, the woman claiming to be the lost tsarina, the narration jumps around in time. I think ultimately it worked, and once I was finished with the novel I understood why the author constructed her story this way, but at times it felt a bit jarring to read. Overall, this book is a good read. A compelling story well told, one that keeps you engaged and turning the pages, even if you do happen to know how the real-life story ends. If you don't, all the better! Stay away from google and start reading.
As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review: I love historical fiction, especially about times in history I know little about. After finishing this book and reading the Author’s Note at the end, I found myself wondering why the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 hasn’t been used as a backdrop for more storytelling: 50 million people died worldwide, and it was an equal opportunity disease, killing young and old, poor and wealthy alike. As the author says in her note at the end, it’s not just one story, but millions of stories, of parents and brothers and sisters and children, just like us. Anyway, back to the book. It’s really almost two novels in one: the first part is about this young family moving to Philadelphia, how the flu and World War I impacts their lives, and the immediate aftermath. The second part is all new story lines as their lives continue. Both are compelling and kept me turning the pages; I cared about the characters and wanted to know how things would turn out for them. This book isn’t for the squeamish. The family runs a funeral home, and there is a lot of talk of handling dead bodies, particularly during the height of the flu outbreak. At times it seems macabre, but I think that’s just because we aren’t used to reading about the logistics of funeral homes so openly discussed. It’s not overly done, just be forewarned going in. Toward the end there was a little bit of over-the-top coincidence to make the storyline work, but you’ll probably forgive the author because ultimately, it works.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ *Audible *Arlington 55+ Senior Book Club Discussion Group July 2018 Selection
My Review: I read this one twice before, so this time when it came up for the senior book discussion group I lead at the library, I listened to the audio version. The narration was fantastic! This book did not disappoint, even after reading it a third time. I'm keeping my review at 5 stars! I especially love any book or movie that can show me my own culture from an outsiders' perspective. As an immigrant, Adichie can hold up a mirror to our culture and our society and show us things that we are blind too. She is also simply a brilliant novelist; she is such a keen observer of human behavior. She can expertly craft a scene between characters that feels so real, so true to life, that you feel like you've seen the interaction first-hand. This book is so well done, a truly brilliant novel. Adichie, like her main character in this book, had the unique experience of being African in America, which is different than being an African-American. One is an experience and a cultural history that gives you a life of living in a country of people who look just like you, from your classmates to your teachers to your government leaders to your movie stars. Class, wealth and religion may divide you, but you don't ever really think about the color of your skin. The color of your skin does not define you. The other is an experience and a cultural history that gives you a life of living in a country that has a history of systemic racism and oppression that deeply affects every aspect of your life. She had to learn how to be black in America. Interesting to note: I read this when it first came out, and I liked it so much that I selected it for the Daytime Fiction Discussion Group at One More Page Books. This was still during the Obama Administration, and the issue of race of course came up, but we discussed the book as a whole. We talked about the characters, their experiences, relationships, etc., like we do any other book. This time, however, we were discussing this book during the Trump Administration. And while it wasn't written in the Trump Era, the discussion was almost exclusively about race. And in a room full of older white women, it was not a comfortable conversation. I kept thinking of Austin Channing Brown's book I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made For Whiteness; all I can say is White Fragility is real, y'all.
